Intensive Course Asks Students to Market Ohio State

Students compared the course to a Marine Corps boot camp — grueling hours of tough and challenging exercises. The professor was compared to a brutal and unrelenting drill sergeant pushing his young charges to their limits.

However, “It was the best class of my entire Ohio State career,” said graduate Kyle Girardi of the Fisher marketing course Promotional Strategy. Those sentiments were echoed by several of Girardi’s classmates.

“This class pushed me in ways I never expected,” said student Katy Edwards.

Girardi and Edwards described clinical assistant professor Shashi Matta’s undergraduate course as the very embodiment of experiential learning.

In addition to standard course work, the students were required to participate in a live team project: Building Brand OSU.

Student teams, mentored by Matta, worked to develop an integrated marketing communication campaign targeted at various Ohio State segments — current students, young alumni, and mature alumni. The students conducted marketing research through one-on-one interviews, focus groups, and surveys. They also developed and tested campaigns.

The winning team, along with Matta, was featured at a President’s Pre-Game Brunch.

“Working on the brand project opened up so many doors; it definitely helped me land a great internship this summer.”

Katy Edwards, student in the Promotional Strategy course

Branding Presentations Slideshow

Faculty Perspective

“I think the students felt personally vested in this project in a much different way than students working on just another term project. For many of them, this was a labor of the mind and the heart because it was for Ohio State.”